


serendipity

by clari (twistedcupofjava)



Series: the moon is crumbling but that’s okay [3]
Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, One Shot, Swearing, and they don’t know that eret uses multiple pronouns at this point in time, does this count as slice of life? i’m not sure, eret is their cool adopted older brother, except it’s actually a tiny glade in the forest because we can’t have shit on this island, forgot to mention but he/him pronouns for eret, minor offscreen character dies in a car crash, obligatory “tommyinnit is in this of course there’s gonna be swearing”, only bc this is from tommy and tubbo’s pov, sibling shenanigans, this was gonna be really wholesome but that just ain’t how it is in hatchetfield, tommy and tubbo are twins, tommy and tubbo vibing in a flower field, tommy is a theater kid, will use multiple pronouns for eret in future fics dw :))
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:55:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26738488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedcupofjava/pseuds/clari
Summary: “i don’t think this is the kind of place you find by running away. it wouldn’t be a secret, if that were the case. feels more like serendipity to me.”(on a little island town, tommy and tubbo are making the most of what they’ve got. life in hatchetfield is far from great—some even say that the island itself cursed. but life is a delicate dance between luck and misfortune, and though they’ve had a hell of a lot of misfortune, lady luck hasn’t abandoned them. not completely, at least.)
Relationships: Toby Smith | Tubbo & TommyInnit, no romance here folks
Series: the moon is crumbling but that’s okay [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1919737
Comments: 27
Kudos: 108





	serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> been a hot minute, huh?
> 
> was planning to upload this a couple days ago but my mom confiscated my phone (which is the only device where i can access ao3) and i only just got it back lmao
> 
> this is prequel fic for an AU that i’m planning to create more content for. check out the series notes for more info if you’re interested. this fic can (probably?) be read as a stand-alone, but it makes more sense in the context of the AU
> 
> this fic is kind of messy and i barely did any preplanning, so it’s probably not my best work

in the woods behind hatchetfield high, there was a small glade. to two young boys in particular, it was the best place in the entire town. to everyone else, it didn’t exist. 

the thing about this glade was that it was in the dead center of the woods. you know, the same woods that was rumored to be the most haunted part of the island. 

suffice to say, the woods behind hatchetfield high was not a popular hangout spot, and aside from the truly dumb and truly reckless, nobody ventured more than a hundred feet past the chain link fence separating the woods from school property. 

luckily for our story, tommy and tubbo happen to be truly dumb and truly reckless. 

the first time they found the glade, they were seven years old. tubbo had been the one to lead them there, because  _ the bees are there, tommy! _

tommy hadn’t quite understood at the time (“ _ how do you know the bees are there, i know for a fact you’ve never gone past the tree line” _ ), but he supposed it made a bit of sense. after all, there were few places in hatchetfield where the natural beauty of the island was preserved. the town was closely packed, covered in office buildings, local shops, apartment complexes, suburban neighborhoods, and crowded trailer parks. and, yeah, tommy wasn’t so sure that heading straight into the creepy forest was the  _ best _ idea (though he would  _ never _ admit that he found it creepy).

but above everything, tommy trusted tubbo. how could he not? they lived in a shitty trailer, with their shitty parents, trapped on a shitty island. from the beginning, it had been the two of them against the world. 

a seven-year-old tommy followed his twin brother into the woods, and they found what would become  _ their _ place for the rest of their lives in hatchetfield. 

the glade was fairly well hidden, surrounded by a rather dense ring of trees and bushes. the walk from the edge of the forest to the glade wasn’t too long, short enough that the boys were surprised nobody else knew about it. it was the kind of place whose existence you’d think was impossible, because how does such a thing exist on this shithole of an island? 

but the glade  _ did _ exist. it was a tiny clearing, most of it obscured in the shadows of the towering pines, but big enough that a patch of wildflowers thrived in the center. the flowers were a splash of color amidst the dreary forest atmosphere, sunny yellows and vivid blues and soothing magentas, and it felt so  _ alive _ . 

the first time they arrived in the glade, a satisfied grin appeared on tubbo’s face. 

“i  _ knew _ it was real.”

“what?” tommy glanced quizzically over at his brother. “did you know about this place before? why didn’t you tell me?”

tubbo wandered around the clearing, wonder glinting in his eyes as he brushed his fingers against the soft, velvety flower petals. “had a dream last night, saw the woods. just felt that i’d find something here. something good.”

tommy raised an eyebrow. “and how did you know you’d find something?”

a shrug. “just...a feeling, in this area,” tubbo explained. “felt safe. safer than home, at least.”

if tommy had known any better, he would’ve found this extremely strange. but at this moment, tommy was a dumb seven-year-old, and he trusted tubbo more than he trusted himself. besides, at least some of what tubbo said was practically fact. a  _ lot _ of things felt safer than home.

the boys wasted the remaining daylight chasing each other through the flower patch, crafting crowns, catching lightning bugs, and carving their names into a tree with a small pocket knife. in that secluded glade, the world was finally theirs. hatchetfield could be such a terrible place—life was dull and mundane, and there was an air of tension blanketing the entire island. somehow, though, in this tiny flower field in the middle of the woods, there was a different sort of energy. it felt  _ vibrant _ , it felt  _ free _ . it felt like more like home than the trailer they went back to every night.

on the walk home, tubbo slipped his hand into tommy’s. 

“i had fun. wish we could stay there.”

tommy gripped his brother’s hand a little bit tighter, reluctantly leading him back toward the trailer park. 

“me too, tubbo. me too.”

* * *

for a long while after that, the glade was their little secret. throughout their elementary and middle school years, tommy and tubbo spent their afternoons in their spot in the woods. the glade became a blessing of sorts—whenever they’d had enough of the fucked up parts of hatchetfield, the flower patch, with its bees and ladybugs and fireflies, was always there to welcome them. 

and, maybe, if the boys had friends, they would’ve shared their secret. but, apart from each other, they didn’t. tommy and tubbo were perfectly content with that, though. the glade was just for the two of them. 

until one day it wasn’t. 

“who the fuck are you?” tommy demanded, stumbling over the bushes surrounding the clearing. a stranger dressed in dark clothing was laying on their back in the center of the patch, mindlessly twirling a coneflower in their left hand and supporting the back of their head with their right. “you aren’t supposed to be here.  _ we _ found this place first,  _ years _ ago. finders keepers, bitch.”

“i thought nobody else knew about this place,” tubbo remarked, following closely behind tommy. “it’s in the dead center of the woods. how did you find it?”

the stranger seemed relatively unsurprised to see them, if his lack of reaction was anything to go by (though he  _ was _ wearing sunglasses, which made it much harder to decipher his expression). he sat up, tossing the flower to the side, and shrugged. “i just walked into the forest and found it. it’s not like it’s  _ that _ well hidden.”

tommy crossed his arms, glaring suspiciously. “yeah, that sounds like bullshit to me.”

the stranger laughed, gracefully getting to his feet. he was rather tall, 6’3” at least, towering over the two kids. “language,” he lightly scolded. “aren’t you, like, ten? go home and play with your legos or something.”

“i’m  _ thirteen _ , dickhead!” tommy yelled angrily, walking forward until he was directly in front of the stranger. “and for your information, i don’t own any legos, which you should be grateful for. in fact, i hope you step on a lego. maybe i’ll save up to buy some, just so i can make you step on them.  _ then _ you’ll be sorry.”

the stranger lifted an eyebrow. “not a bad threat, kid. i’m almost impressed.”

“oh, don’t be,” tubbo butted in. “tommy stole that one from google.” he shot tommy a look. “shame i can’t add it to the quote book, plagiarized content doesn’t count. besides,” he told the stranger. “it’s not like he can  _ actually _ save up to buy legos. we don’t have any money.”

tommy whirled around and punched his brother in the shoulder. “stop ruining my threats, tubbo! they aren’t effective when you say stuff like that.”

tubbo blinked owlishly, rubbing at his shoulder. “what, the part about google or the part about us being poor?”

tommy facepalmed. “ _ both _ , you idiot. that’s another tubbo moment for the books,” he muttered. he turned back around to face the stranger, “listen, dickhead—”

“my name’s eret.”

“—listen,  _ eret _ . i don’t know what kind of traumatic bullshit you’re running away from, but you gotta go. this clearing is mine and tubbo’s. we claimed it. carved our name into the tree and everything. it’s  _ ours _ .”

eret gave another shrug, walking past tommy towards where they entered the glade. “if you say so. i’ve got places to be, anyway.”

tommy scoffed, grasping tubbo’s hand and pulling him to his side. “what a dick, am i right?”

“don’t be so mean, tommy,” tubbo mumbled. “he wasn’t  _ that _ bad. i think he was kinda cool.”

“thanks, kid. and—tommy, was it?” the twins turned back to the edge of the glade at the sound of eret’s deep voice. he had paused in front of the bushes and was staring back at them with a thoughtful gaze. “i don’t think this is the kind of place you find by running away. it wouldn’t be a secret, if that were the case. feels more like serendipity to me.”

tommy blinked, before shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. “alright, i’ve had enough of your bullshit. get out of here, and don’t come back.”

eret laughed, turning and stepping over the bushes. “no promises.”

“still think he’s cool,” tubbo remarked, as they watched eret disappear into the forest. 

“still think he’s an asshole,” tommy replied. 

(eret was back in the glade the next day, with a plastic container filled to the brim with homemade cookies. 

tommy thought they tasted like shit. tubbo thought they were the best cookies in the entire world. tommy reluctantly agreed with tubbo.

“i’m flattered you’re warming up to me,” eret said, grinning.

“yeah, yeah, whatever,” tommy grumbled. “hand me another cookie.”

“that means he trusts you with his life,” tubbo translated, reaching into the tupperware. “eret, you’re our big brother now.”)

* * *

tubbo sprinted through the trees, his heart racing, the untouched snow crunching beneath his feet. he had waited outside of hatchetfield high for nearly twenty minutes, and yet he hadn’t seen tommy come out of the school. after finding out from the secretary that his brother hadn’t shown up to his last two classes, tubbo knew exactly where he had gone. 

sure enough, as he walked into the glade, tommy was laying on his back in the middle of the clearing, his arms wrapped around his torso. his head was tilted back, resting on the snow, and he gazed emptily into the pale gray sky.

tubbo sighed, walking over to sit down next to tommy and place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“wanna talk about it?”

tommy exhaled, his breath condensing in the bitterly cold air.

“wilbur’s gone.” tommy’s voice cracked at the end, something both brothers chose to ignore.

tubbo was confused, just for a moment. as far as he knew, no student in their school was named— _ oh _ .

“you mean mr. soot?” he inquired. “your theater teacher?”

“yeah,” tommy confirmed, nodding in a particularly miserable fashion. “there was a car accident. over winter break. he’s not  _ dead _ ,” he quickly clarified, shooting tubbo a glance. “but someone else is.”

“who?”

“his wife.” tommy reached up to grip tubbo’s hand. “wilbur put in his resignation as soon as he could sign the form without his tears smudging his signature. at least, that’s what the substitute told us.”

they sat there for a minute, tubbo running his thumb soothingly over tommy’s knuckles. the silence was broken only by the whistling of the wind and tommy’s hiccups. the world seemed colder than usual.

“i think i’m gonna drop out,” tommy murmured.

“what?” tubbo almost dropped tommy’s hand in shock. “tommy, you can’t just  _ drop out _ of school. you can’t even do it legally.”

tommy sat up, raising a hand to brush snow out of his hair. “not yet, at least. our birthday is coming up, and as soon as we turn sixteen, i’m not setting foot in that nightmare of a school ever again.”

tubbo was still sputtering. “but why would you even want to drop out? tommy, i thought your grades were fine—”

“my grades are  _ terrible _ , tubbo,” tommy cut in. “i’ve got failing grades in almost every single class. you know which class has been keeping my GPA afloat?”

tubbo realized where this conversation was going. “theater?”

“ _ theater _ . you know that will was the only adult in the whole school who cared about me. hell, other than eret, he’s the only adult on the  _ island _ who cares about me.”

“and now that mr. soot is gone, you’re going to fail.”

“exactly.” tommy flopped back down into the snow, and tubbo carefully leaned down to lay next to him. another quiet moment passed.

“so what are you gonna do?” tubbo asked. “you know, instead of school.”

“don’t know. get a job, maybe. earn some money so we can get the hell away from here.”

“away from where, exactly?”

“hatchetfield. this island.” tommy gestured toward the sky. “michigan. i don’t know, i just want to leave. go somewhere else, anywhere but here. i’m sick and tired of this place.”

“so where do you want to go?” tubbo questioned.

“i dunno. a place with more room to dream, spread our wings. somewhere with a bigger sky.”

tubbo hummed, his eyes drifting up to trace the shadows of the clouds. “a bigger sky. that sounds nice.”

**Author's Note:**

> tommy - lex  
> tubbo - hannah  
> eret - ethan (big thanks to fandomfanatic17 on tumblr for suggesting eret as ethan!)  
> wilbur - tom
> 
> anyone who can correctly identify the song reference at the very end, i love you
> 
> i’m planning a big multi-chapter fic to be the center of the AU! i still only have like 60% of the AU figured out so if you wanna help me out with it,, feel free to hmu on tumblr 👉👈
> 
> reviews are greatly appreciated! i try to respond to every single one :)
> 
> anyways SAD-ist supremacy <3


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